Honor is secondary to survival. Reeling from their losses at Callinicum, the Roman army has repulsed the Persians from Mesopotamia, but at horrendous cost. Belisarius’ improbable triumph at Dara is cast aside by a vengeful legate, condemning Constantinople’s vaunted general to ignominious imprisonment. With his last order, Belisarius pleads with Varus to lead the army to safety and to bring peace to a shattered land.

Yet conflict flares along other corners of the Empire, with the merciless Vandal hordes pillaging the African coastline. Emperor Justinian snatches at the opportunity, instructing his battered armies to seize the city of Carthage and triumph against a tribe fabled for their appetite for destruction. Undefeated in a century of war against the Romans, the Vandal warrior class understands only one law: strength conquers all. During preparations for war against the Vandals, the Emperor funds a glorious spectacle of chariot racing, drawing tens of thousands to Constantinople's Hippodrome.

However, just as an unbowed enemy occupies the fabled city of Carthage, so too have Justinian's foes multiplied within the walls of Constantinople. Overtaxed, starving, and brutalized by the Emperor’s lawgivers, the Hippodrome’s innumerable sea of Green and Blue racing supporters are like kindling, awaiting the faintest spark to ignite in revolt against the heir to Caesar. From civil strife to distant war, the Eastern Empire shall never be the same.

In his moment of greatest need, the Emperor seeks the aid of Belisarius, not only to achieve dreams of Roman glory along the distant African coast, but to save the lives of the Imperial court amidst the most disastrous rebellion in living memory.